Are we alone in the universe? Let's find out!!!!
Are we alone in the universe? By Sam Melanson in 8B
By: Sam Melanson
Star Wars. Easily one of the most complex and diverse fiction works made for the big screen. From the talented mind of George Lucas comes the heroic, skilled pilot-turned-Jedi Luke Skywalker, to the stubborn but loyal Han Solo, from the evil and powerful Palpatine to the infamous Darth Vader. Since 1977, Star Wars has entertained, fascinated, and inspired the minds of all ages. One of the main highlights of the franchise is the universe that Star Wars features; it comes with many different intelligent life forms. It’s all contained in one huge galaxy and has different regions. The Outer Rim, where the humble Luke Skywalker grows up on the balmy desert planet of Tatooine, and the Core, where the political and financial planet city Coruscant lies as the seat of government for the Galactic Republic. However, have you ever wondered or found it interesting that life exists not just on one planet, but tens, if not hundreds? Come to think of it, why do we only live on one habitable planet, Earth, and is there life on other worlds we never knew about? Well, being a space and science enthusiast (and an avid watcher of David Attenborough’s Our Planet), I’m here to give you the run-down on how there may be life outside of our Earth. So, engage the hyperdrive and use the Force as we dive into this mystery!
First, let’s look at the night sky. See those brown and white stripes among the stars? Our Milky Way galaxy has around 100 to 400 billion stars and spans over 100,000 light years. In numerical form, that’s 9.46e+17 or nine hundred and forty-six quadrillion kilometers in diameter. That’s 946 followed by fifteen zeros. Whew! Anyway, due to our galaxy’s enormous size, there could very well be potential candidates for life, and one of those planets is Kepler 452 b. Kepler was discovered in July 2015 and lies in its star’s habitable zone. It is a super-Earth and has a slightly longer year: 385 days instead of 365. Due to Kepler’s differences in size, gravity, orbits, and weather, it could be difficult for life to survive on the planet. However, life can equally perfectly exist just fine, by adapting to the gravity and possible climate differences.
We can also look at our larger neighbor. If the light pollution is minimal, you can see a small, faint disk floating in the sky: the Andromeda galaxy. With a diameter of more than double the Milky Way’s (just imagine that number!), you would think Andromeda probably has an even greater chance of having life, right? Well, there’s a bit of a problem. Light travels at about 300 million meters per second, which might sound fast at first, and it is, but remember: space is huge! Just the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda alone is 2.5 million light years. This means that light that comes from Andromeda takes a whopping 2.5 million years to reach us. This means that when you look at Andromeda in the night sky, you’re looking at something from 2.5 million years ago! In all seriousness, though, since our ‘latency’ between us and Andromeda is 2.5 million years, it’s difficult to conclude whether the galaxy may have life.
While Andromeda is over 2 million light years away, scientists have long considered looking at our very own Solar System for life, and one of the worlds they once considered might surprise you: Venus. I know what some of you are thinking. Venus is a hellish world: the atmosphere is thick with toxic gases, painful acid rain, and pressure over 90 times that of Earth. Just a few months ago, though, scientists reported they discovered evidence of phosphine and oxygen, crucial life-supporting elements that exist on Earth. However, these claims are disputed, and the truth of their existence has been heavily debated. So, we can eliminate Venus from the question. This means that the far more likely candidate isn’t even a planet… but a moon. The planet Jupiter itself cannot harbor life as it has no solid surface, but turns to its Galilean moon Europa, and it may be a different story. Scientists have long theorized that Europa may have a secret underground ocean twice the size of one on Earth. In the coming years, NASA plans to launch a satellite mission, the Europa Clipper, to investigate this.
So, what can we conclude? Well, life might exist on known exoplanets inside our galaxy, or it might exist in our neighboring galaxy, or it might exist right here in our Solar System. There may be life outside of Earth, either within our grasp or in a galaxy far, far away… See what I did there?
This is great!
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